A Tarot blog by Angelo Nasios author of the forth coming book "What The Little White Book Won't Tell you"

Saturday, August 11, 2007

The many faces of RWS

Click to see larger image

The rider waite smith tarot deck is by far the most popular and copied deck in history. The rider waite deck has many clones like the Hanson-Roberts deck and others but in this post I will be only focusing on the decks that have taken the RWS drawings and re-colored them thus keeping the the same image but giving it a new look.

I have bought five versions of the RWS. I have the Rider waite, Universal Waite Tarot,Radiant Rider-Waite, The Original Rider Waite, Golden Rider Waite. Why do i have so many versions of the same deck? Well I love the rider waite deck. Its my favorite simply because I had it as my first and I love to see it in different colors to see if it can give me a new look and feel of what th card means. Also it adds verity to my collection. I like to switch between RWS decks from time to to time. The only thing I would love to see on a RWS deck is Golden edges like in the Golden Tarot. I did find that there was once a deck that had this and it out of print now so I am upset.

The following decks versions of the RWS.

The Original Rider WaiteTe Original Rider-Waite Tarot differs from the Rider-Waite Tarot, as it has less saturated colors and a brownish hue, titles as drawn by Pamela Colman-Smith, and a more decorative back pattern.

The Rider WaiteThis deck that we all know (the one with the blue and black plaid stripes) is not the original, it is a 1971 remake.

Giant Rider WaiteThis deck is a much larger version of the rider waite. There are no changing just the size.

Rider-Waite Tarot (University Books)This version of the Rider-Waite Tarot was published by University Books beginning in 1959.

Universal Waite TarotThe Rider-Waite with artwork in the style of the Hanson-Roberts deck. This deck has a much more softer glow feel to the cards.

Radiant Rider-WaitePoshkus has re-illustrated and updated Pamela Colman-Smith's famous images used in the Rider-Waite Tarot. Compared to the original, these cards are much more luminously colored and three-dimensional.

Albano-Waite TarotPamela Colman-Smith's artwork is copied exactly and re-colored. There are several similar tarot decks, but the Albano-Waite Tarot is loudly colored, sometimes garishly so.

Golden Rider WaiteColman-Smith's images have been reproduced as oil-paintings which gives them a more indistinct outline but a richer hue.